Posts Tagged ‘Bea Arthur’

Film School Rejects
THE TORTURED HISTORY OF THE ‘STAR WARS’ HOLIDAY SPECIAL
John DiLillo
APRIL 10, 2018

In the 1970s, blockbuster sequels were hard to come by. Studios used franchising to paper up holes in their release schedule, rushing follow-ups into production to cash in on valuable IP as soon as possible. Miniscule budgets and quick production turnarounds made movies like the James Bond series consistently popular, but big-budget franchises were nowhere to be found.

The release of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws in 1975 changed things, but only slightly. Universal gave its 1978 successor a relatively sizeable budget, more than four times that of the original Jaws. And it seemed to work: For a brief period, Jaws 2 was the most financially successful sequel of all time, making almost $200 million worldwide on a $30 million dollar budget.Read More

Do not adjust your hearing aids: That persistent buzz is just the chatter surrounding “Silver Foxes” — the gently ballyhooed “gay reboot of ‘The Golden Girls’” that isn’t actually a gay reboot of “The Golden Girls” but sort of is.

The brainchild (or grandparent?) of screenwriter Stan Zimmerman (who, back in the day, penned some fine “Golden Girls” episodes himself), “Silver Foxes” is certainly “inspired by” by the original “Girls, and will tell the tangling tales of four older gay men living (and likely grousing) together in Palm Springs — that is, if it gets picked up before the idea is shipped off to Shady Pines.Read More

“I worked with Sonny and Cher, Sonny without Cher, Cher without Sonny, Chastity with a dick, Chastity without a dick….” said funny man Bruce Vilanch at the top of his 54 Below show. “For years, Cher thought I was Chastity.

“The last time I saw Cher,” he went on, “she said, ‘Vilanch, you fat fuck. You still in the business?’ I looked at her and said, ‘I like this face. Keep this one!’”Read More